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Subject: Mounted search and rescue

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  • From: Karen Nesbitt <spanishequines@yahoo.com>
  • To: MSAR <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [MSAR] Allergies and elections...
  • Date: Wed, 16 May 2007 05:46:43 -0700 (PDT)

In response to:
 
Message: 13
Date: Tue, 15 May 2007 06:38:00 -0500
From: "IRVIN LICHTENSTEIN" <ilichten1@verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [MSAR] 80-20- rule
To: "'Mounted search and rescue'" <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <0JI200HGJW45HT45@vms040.mailsrvcs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

In politics they say there are 40% of the people would vote for you
regardless, 40% would vote against you regardless, it is the 20%
undecided
who you have to win over.

I met a very experienced hunter jumper trainer/instructor who didn't
wear a
helmet while on a very competitive mount. He has a plate in his head
and
will never ride competitively again after going off in a soft sand ring
during a solo training session over low to medium fences.  Old style
hunt
caps were no protection at all and did tend to whiplash the neck, new
designs have neck protection built in the form of a rear flap. As Tomi
will
testify I treated a rider who not only went off but was dragged on a
stone
chip arena, the helmet was destroyed, she escaped without injury but a
suspected concussion. 

As to other safety devices, most will kill you if improperly used. 
Early
ejection seats caused back injuries so now there are pretensioners that
pull
the arms and legs into position and reduced G forces. The same applies
to
car seat belts and air bags.  I have been doing vehicle rescue for over
20
years and I can easily tell from the injuries whether a seat belt was
worn
or not.  Broken legs, especially upper legs, knees, ankles-- the
hardest
areas to regain full function usually mean no belt, as does submarining
(going under the air bag and hitting the dash).  People don't get
killed by
seatbelts trapping them, they get killed because they are too injured
to
save themselves during the wait for the fire company to get there. No
vehicle should explode or even catch fire after a collision under 60
MPH
today. The days of the Pinto are long gone, thank federal regulators.

Lastly, one of the reasons horseback riding is so dangerous according
to the
insurance companies is because people who think they know what they are
doing do stupid things around smart horses.

Irv Lichtenstein
 
---->>>>
 
 
Aaaaah, IRV, now here is finally a guy that is listening!!  Perhaps you can explain then the principle behind the bumper on a car and apply it to the hat vs helmet issue.  Perhaps then, maybe people like Chris will see what I am DRIVING at.  
 
Here is my feable attempt.... Hmmm... let's see....that 12 or so inches on a vehicles bumper is made to CRUMPLE and cushion the blow, is it not IRV? and so therefore if we have a cushion to a blow, it will become hopefully less in severity...so ok, apply that to that helmet and then maybe you can start convincing me to wear one.   Until then, no brim, no bumper, no bumper, no cushion and well, I for one am not wanting to add insult to an injury already there in regarding MY neck.  And as I said before... a brim added may prevent the head AND THE HELMET from even hitting the ground and if all you are wearing is a brimless helmet...I still do not see the benefit of a helmet if it has no brim.  It has no bumper, it will not give the crumple cushion that good  brim could and in the right area to protect the neck.
 
If the cusion is too hard in that area, it will not serve the purpose of the crumple affect.  Since I cannot draw you all a picture, it is the best I can do to try to describe this.
 
Sure, and without an arguement, a helmet it may protect the HEAD from a concussion.   But there is still not enough on the helmet to protect the neck.  I personally have yet to see a helmet that offers the protection I am seeking in that direction.
 
  And as said, when it comes to a peice of equipment that is going to be worn personally by me, and to protect me in SPECIFIC needs, head protection without a brim it is absolutely useless.
 
To make EVERYONE wear a specific peice of equipment when it is not made to be worn by EVERYONE is insane.  And that is where the attorneys and the insurance companies have their field days...   It is almost like telling everyone that they should eat peanut butter when someone in the team is allergic to it.   Now if that is team playing.. I want no part of it.  To me, team playing is pulling together as a group and taking in account those who may have strengths or weaknesses and putting those people in balance with the rest of the team.  We are all not from the same mold, we are not all left handed and we are not all always right.
 
As IRV also said "People don't get killed by seatbelts trapping them, they get killed because they are too injured to save themselves during the wait for the fire company to get there...."  
 
While a seatbelt saved my life in my auto incident, it did not SAVE my neck.  I was told by the officer there that "Man, I was so lucky to have WALKED away from that accident with hardly a scratch".....well, over thirty years later, what that accident left, I am not so sure if I would call it being lucky.  Painful yes.  Lucky..no...  Lucky was the kid that I missed hitting while he proceeded to run a redlight and as I avoided hitting him, my vehicle rolled over.  No, the vehicle did not explode, but the gas tank did rupture...and I was not about to wait around for the fire department to come to my rescue...   Thank goodness the seatbelt saved my life and I was able to still kick like a mule.   I had to kick the vehicle door out to make my escape. The part that hurt most at the time was releasing the seatbelt and crashing down on to the metal roof of the jeep wrenching my arm so as not to hit my head.   The whip of my neck, well that did not settle in immediately and as in most cases it generally takes a little time and symptoms can vary and the linguring problems can be MANY.
 
Statistics - they do not always take into account the variables from the norm.
 
Well, there ya go.  It's not politics, it's not an election, it's specific needs. 
 
Karen Nesbitt
Iroqouis County - VMSAR
Illinois
 
 
 
 
 


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